It's late spring in Juliet's charming hamlet, Ashland, Oregon. Spotted deer are nibbling on lush green grasses in Lithia Park, the Japanese maples are blooming, and Torte is baking a bevy of spring delights-lemon curd cupcakes, mini coconut cream pies, grapefruit tartlets, and chocolate dipped almond Tuiles.
Meanwhile, her friend Lance, the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is taking center stage with his new theater troupe-the Fair Verona Players. Their performance in Uva's vineyard promises to be a modern, gender-bending twist on "The Taming of the Shrew," but as the curtain rises, so do the strange occurrences. Stage mishaps and internal bickering threaten to derail the production. But as the curtain rises, the real show begins when the leading actor, Jimmy Paxton, meets his final curtain call. Now, Jules is not only in the mix, but she's going to need to craft the perfect recipe for solving this theatrical whodunit.
